When any railroad company claiming a grant of land under any Act of Congress, desiring to secure the survey of any unsurveyed lands within the limits of its grant, shall file an application therefor in writing with such officer as the Secretary of the Interior may designate, and deposit in a proper United States depository to the credit of the United States a sum sufficient to pay for such survey and for the examination thereof pursuant to law and the rules and regulations of the Department of the Interior under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior or such officer as he may designate, it shall thereupon be the duty of the Secretary or such officer, or the Director of the United States Geological Survey, as the case may be, to cause said lands to be surveyed. For any deposits made by any railroad company hereunder, certificates shall be issued, which may be used by such railroad company, its successors or assigns, to the same extent as cash is now allowed in payment of entries of public lands under existing law and regulations for any public lands of the United States in the States where the surveys were made, or for any survey or office fees due the United States from such railroad company on account of surveys of lands within its grant. The Secretary of the Interior shall provide such rules and regulations as may be necessary for carrying out the foregoing provisions.

(Feb. 27, 1899, ch. 205, 30 Stat. 892; Mar. 3, 1925, ch. 462, 43 Stat. 1144; 1946 Reorg. Plan No. 3, § 403, eff. July 16, 1946, 11 F.R. 7876, 60 Stat. 1100; Pub. L. 102–154, title I, Nov. 13, 1991, 105 Stat. 1000.)